


I'm A Genius Clint

by TheForrestofFanfic



Series: The Avengers: Day In Day Out [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Bruce Banner, BAMF Clint Barton, Gen, Pepper Potts mentioned - Freeform, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Thor: Ragnarok (Movie), Protective Clint Barton, Slight OOC, Thor mentioned - Freeform, natasha romanov mentioned, tony stark mentioned - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-17
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-11-01 21:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10930356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheForrestofFanfic/pseuds/TheForrestofFanfic
Summary: Bruce Banner is back in town. No one, not even Natasha, knows it yet. Well... there is one person who knows and he has a bone to pick with the good doctor who's been away for two years since Ultron.





	I'm A Genius Clint

 

Bruce quickly stepped around the large queue of people who walked the streets of New York. Every few seconds he’d check over his shoulder and even though he never saw anything or anyone he’d pull his purple cap a little further over his face. His hands were stuck firm into the pockets of his tattered brown jacket and he kept on moving forward aware of the cynical gaze of what was the Avengers tower behind him in the Manhattan skyline.

The large and in his opinion unnecessary ‘A’ logo had been removed completely but had not been replaced and Bruce but it down to Tony’s poorly hidden sentimentalities for the team. However, as he carried on (with perhaps more force in his stride than was needed) down the road and turning a corner he wondered how far Tony’s emotions exceeded considering the mini civil war between him and Steve.

He wasn’t afraid to admit that Bruce was happy he wasn’t involved. He didn’t need to see General Ross again and he didn’t need to pick a side between two friends, especially if it was the side that opposed Natasha though he didn’t think she was petty enough for that to matter. However, leaving her on a helicarrier, bounding off into a stealth jet, disconnecting her call and not seeing her for two years probably was enough to at least cause tension between them. Not that he’d know considering he still hadn’t seen her.

As Bruce looked over his shoulder he saw someone, clearly a man, he wore black shades and a red Yankees cap. He was strolling at a casual pace though Bruce – having been on the run and been followed all his life – knew when he was being tailed. He didn’t really want to stick around to see which government agency wanted to dissect him and he definitely didn’t want to draw attention to himself and alert Natasha to his presence – he wasn’t ready to face her yet.

He carried on walking down the road as if he’d seen nothing and wasn’t any the wiser. He checked his worn down nokia phone and saw the time was 3:10pm. He smiled to himself picking up the pace as he turned down a road he knew had a school on it and it was almost time for the end of the day. As if on que the bells rung and the doors slammed open as kids ran out of the school grounds and spilled onto the streets. Bruce used this as a distraction and moved through the crowd with ease and sharply turned into a back street.

He grinned to himself as he watched for his stalker whom did not appear. He carried on down the street and turned only to come face to face with-

“Hey Bruce, long time no Hulk?” Clint Barton. He leaned against the wall very casually however Bruce noticed the former Avenger was clutching his fist with quite the intensity.

“Barton. Given up being a family man to stalk me?” He questioned, his tone clearly dripping with sarcasm as he leaned against the wall opposite him.

“Well, you know how it is Bruce; well actually I guess you don’t since you haven’t been around for a while.” He was almost certain Clint knew exactly how long he’d been away but of course he wasn’t here to settle pedantics with him.

“What is it you want from me Barton?” He gave a frustrated sigh and pulled off his glasses giving them a once over with a piece of cloth he kept in the back pocket of his brown slacks.

“I want an explanation of why you left, where you went and why the hell in the two weeks you’ve been in Manhattan you haven’t contacted anyone!” Clint seemed to have forgotten all about the green rage monster that was the Hulk or he simply didn’t care and Bruce could only be relieved that he’d managed to get a firmer hold of the Hulk otherwise he’d have turned Hawkeye into a pigeon pie.

“We shouldn’t do this here Clint.” Ever cautious of his surroundings he fixed Clint with a look however that did nothing to stifle his ferocity.

“That’s not good enough Bruce. I want to know everything that happened and why the hell you chose now to come back!” Clint moved quickly towards him and Bruce felt the wall hard against his back, he sensed the Hulk screaming to rip Barton apart but he knew Clint was angry and Bruce mentally forced him down.

“Fine!” He stood taller regaining a little height however Clint still towered over him. “Let’s go to your apartment in Brooklyn before you push the Hulk too far and he decides to snap you in half like an arrow shaft.”

“How did you-”

“I’m a genius Clint. I only needed two weeks to find you all.” Bruce hid a small smile as he left Hawkeye with his mouth wide open hearing him fall into step behind him going toward his apartment – of course he wasn’t the only one in hiding after the division of the team

The two walked to Clint’s flat without speaking a word to each other, whether this was due to the tension between the two or simply not to draw attention to them was unclear. However soon they had reached the set of apartment blocks downtown in Brooklyn and Bruce was still in front and took the elevator up to the 49th floor (the top floor) the two still in silence all the way up only being interrupted by the intermittent ‘dings’ that notified them that they had gotten to other people’s chosen floors. Quickly, as the door opened Clint took the lead and put his key in the lock of door 388 before pushing through holding it open for Bruce as he went into the apartment.

“Drink?” Clint suddenly spoke and Bruce nodded relieving himself of his coffee coloured jacket on the back of the small grey sofa in the middle of the room. “Non alcoholic I suppose.”

“Do you have any whisky?” Clint had to double take for a second while Bruce just stared at him expectedly.

“Yeah of course doc, but… is that wise?” Bruce was sure that the sudden concern for his alcoholism wasn’t Clint’s empathy shining through.

“I’ve been drinking a lot lately, it’s fine.” He smiled but made no mention to further clarify so Clint didn’t bother to push him on the subject.

Clint pulled two small glasses from the metal cupboard and poured a daring amount of whisky in both. He came around from the kitchen and handed Bruce his drink and watched as he instantly took a sip barely flinching at the high level of alcohol. They stood, in continued silence now neither wanting to renew their argument. Finally Clint began-

“I need an explanation Bruce. Not for Natasha, she doesn’t know you’re here.” The ‘yet’ was audible in its absence. “But I need to know why you didn’t come back, for two years you were gone and now you’re here and not reaching out? What’s going on?” He seemed more concerned that he was intending but according to Natasha Bruce had that effect on her too.

“Well I don’t know if you’ve ever been pushed off a cliff before-”

“I have actually.” He cut in taking a sip from his glass with a small smirk on his face.

“What did you do to the guy who did it?” Bruce looked over the rims of his glasses intrigued.

“I put two arrows in his eyes.” They chuckled before the room returned to silence. As he scanned the doctor it was clear he was better than the last time they fought together. He stood to his full height; there was a constant smile on his face as if he was now content with himself, and he didn’t fold in on himself when he was faced with conflict. This was a new Bruce Banner and Clint was more excited than anything else.

“I didn’t come back because I couldn’t.” Bruce suddenly began. Clint was about to berate him for not having a good enough answer when Bruce gave him a look which suggested he would go on to explain. “I couldn’t – didn’t feel that I could trust Natasha in the field and I couldn’t be the weak link in that team again because weakness gets people killed. I’ve killed enough people I don’t need them to be my friends too.”

“You know why she had to Bruce.” Clint reaffirmed and Bruce shook his head taking a large sip of whisky.

“Doesn’t make it any better, at least at the time it didn’t. So I left and I found solitude again in a small town in Colorado. I stayed close in case I was needed and hadn’t actually planned to stick around that long…”

“Well, then what?” Clint took a step forward toward Bruce.

“I had an incident though it didn’t last long because I was abducted by aliens and brought to the universe’s personal dumping ground.” He wore a bitter smirk.

“For real?” Clint looked like he didn’t quite believe him.

“Ask Thor he’ll tell you though he’s busy in Asgard now – lovely place by the way. Anyway-”

“Wait you went to Asgard?” Clint was pouring himself a second glass clearly in complete interest which he had not anticipated when he decided to confront the doctor.

“I’ll tell you another time anyway long story short I was stuck there for a while Thor helped me out I helped him out and here I am.” He said simply and despite the many questions Clint had for him he held his tongue (which was rare for him).

“So, you’ve been back on Earth for two weeks and you haven’t reached out, why?” He finally asked.

“I was easing myself back in. I approached Pepper because I knew her and Tony had become rather estranged (It’s funny what pops up in gossip magazines) together we monitored you all with the help of one of Tony’s AI’s and she caught me up with everything that’s gone on. I’m sorry about what happened between the team by the way.”

“So you’re coming back?” Clint asked hopefully.

“Yes Clint, I’m **back**.”


End file.
